Lok Sabha Elections 2024: With internal fights raging, BJP stares at bumps in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur Sikri & Bareilly in third phase

Lucknow: Internal dissension in the BJP over selection of candidates on several Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in Uttar Pradesh in the third phase of polling may hurt the saffron party's electoral prospects.  

Of the ten Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in the third phase, BJP has been grappling with serious dissension in Fatehpur Sikri and Bareilly. 

At Fatehpur Sikri, the son of the local BJP legislator Choudahry Babu Lal, is in the fray as an independent candidate against the official party nominee and sitting MP Rajkumar Chahar. Choudhary had sought a ticket for his son Rameshwar Choudhary and after it was denied, he entered the fray as an independent candidate.

Incidentally both Chahar and Choudhary hailed from the electorally influential Jat community, which had a sizable presence in the constituency. Choudhary's entry into the contest has raised the specter of division in the Jat votes which may prove advantageous for the rival Congress candidate. The BSP, by fielding a Brahmin candidate, has further queered the pitch for the saffron party.

The BJP tried hard to persuade Babu Lal to get his son to withdraw from the contest and many senior party leaders also held several rounds of meetings with him but he did not relent.

In Bareilly also, the BJP has been grappling with dissension within its rank and file after it denied re-nomination to the former union minister and sitting MP from there Santosh Gangwar. The BJP has fielded Chatrapal Singh Gangwar from the seat this time.

Hundreds of BJP workers had taken to the streets to register their protest after Santish Gangwar was denied renomination. In fact, such was the scale of protests that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had him sit beside him during his election rally, apparently to give the message that there was no rift in the party over selection of the candidate from Bareilly.

Sources, however, said that Santosh Gangwar and his supporters had kept away from campaigning making things difficult for the saffron party. 

Another senior local BJP leader, who hailed from the Brahmin community, had also not only withdrawn from the campaigning but had been opposing the official party nominee. A video containing audio recording of the leader in which he purportedly talked about the insult to the community also went viral on social media a few days back. 

The ten Lok Sabha seats where polling would be held in the third phase included Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Bareilly, Hathras, Etah, Mainpuri, Sambhal, Aonla, Firozabad and Badaun. Of these the BJP had won eight seats in the 2019 LS polls.

The SP and BSP, which had contested the 2019 LS polls in alliance, had won Mainpuri and Sambhal seats.